


kind of hard to see (beyond the glow)

by SheWhoWalksUnseen



Series: ColdWestAllen Week 2018 [7]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Canon-Typical Violence, ColdWestAllen Week 2018, F/M, M/M, Multi, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:13:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWhoWalksUnseen/pseuds/SheWhoWalksUnseen
Summary: Well, he hadn’t expected to come face-to-face with aliens, that’s for sure.More like face-to-talon, actually, since Len had nearly skewered him when he pried open their space pod.





	kind of hard to see (beyond the glow)

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is SUPER late, but here's my addition for ColdWestAllen's "Space" Day (I promise the final one will be up soon as well, bear with me). I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you guys forgive me for my tardiness.
> 
> Title comes from Daughtry's "Supernatural"

When Barry opened his eyes, his head throbbing as he swallowed a curse, it took him a couple of minutes to realize he wasn’t in his bedroom. His disoriented brain refused to explain why the ceiling was dripping on his neck and the walls were gray rather than the blue of his room and he was surrounded by old boxes in a warehouse that was likely miles away from home. 

Then again, the fact that he was tied to a chair with copious amounts of rope probably should’ve done the trick.

Barry tugged at the rope binding his wrists to the armrests and grimaced when all it earned him was an ache in his already-bruised arms.

Great.

Worse yet, with his head pounding it was difficult to picture what had happened that led to him being kidnapped in the first place. The last thing he remembered, he was heading home from work, texting Cisco about the upcoming meteor shower on Friday.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Barry looked up and a man with dark hair and a sinister glint in his eyes advanced toward him. He hadn’t even noticed the guy standing at the workbench across the warehouse. Whatever was glowing, something strangely blue and familiar, on the table made Barry’s head pulse with a new surge of pain. “I was beginning to wonder if you were planning on sleeping forever.”

The mocking lilt set Barry’s teeth on edge. “Who the hell are you? Why am I here?”

The stranger smiled and he couldn’t help but liken the image to one of a venomous snake in his mind. Placing his hands on either side of Barry, he leaned in. Barry wrinkled his nose as the man’s breath wafted over his face and fought the urge to turn his head away. It smelled like he’d been eating a basket of rotting fish.

“For someone who prides himself on his scientific expertise, you’re not very bright, are you, Bartholomew?” Barry glared at him, but the sight only made the man laugh. “No, I suppose not. Though I do believe you’ve heard of me from your new friends, have you not?”

_Iris and Len._

Barry had met Iris and Len nearly a month ago, after he’d set up his equipment in the woods to photograph shooting stars for his blog when a different type of shooting star altogether crash-landed in the woods nearby. It had taken all his courage to investigate the crater (and determination to show Cisco and Caitlin what he’d found while they were out of town) and…

Well, he hadn’t expected to come face-to-face with aliens, that’s for sure.

More like face-to-talon, actually, since Len had nearly skewered him when he pried open their space pod.

Once he’d gotten over his shock and fright, though, Iris had managed to calm them both down, and realizing the language barrier was going to be an issue, she’d fished out her and Len’s universal translators to explain the situation. They hadn’t meant to crash-land on Earth, as it turned out. Their planet had been destroyed, Iris said with tears in all three of her eyes, and they’d set a course for a planet two systems over, but the ship had been damaged in a fight with space pirates and they needed somewhere to stay.

Barry was more than happy to help them fix their ship, even if it meant watching them both drag it out of the crater and to his storage shed with ease. After all, he wasn’t going to leave them there on their own on a foreign planet.

None of them, however, had expected Iris and Len to stay long. Enlisting Cisco to help Barry fix the ship moved the process along, but by the end of month Barry found that he…didn’t really want them to leave.

It was silly. He’d known from the start that they’d be saying goodbye, had been prepared for it the moment the two had asked for his help. Meeting Cisco and Caitlin hadn’t been part of the deal, nor teaching the aliens –  _mef’heosarians_ , according to Iris – how to blend in when they felt cooped-up in Barry’s apartment which led to the gratifying discovery that their species could actually  _shapeshift_  and fixed that problem. Barry hadn’t meant to start movie marathons with them or teach them how to make a meal when he was stuck at work or listen to their stories of life back on Mef’heosar, even the ones that stung now that their planet had been invaded and their kind wiped out. He probably should’ve listened to Cisco when he’d warned him about getting too close to them, but at the time he laughed off his friend’s concern.

The worst part was, it wasn’t like he’d be able to do anything with either Iris or Len even if they weren’t leaving.

 _Mef’heosarians_ formed bonds with their family and partners when they were young, the latter of which marked a simultaneous coming-of-age and marriage, binding their souls together. They were able to feel their partner’s emotions and sometimes, through only the strongest of bonds, communicate telepathically. Iris and Len were kind enough to describe the bonding ritual for him when Barry expressed his curiosity, but part of him regretted it the moment their eyes lit up with nostalgic delight. Barry had never been lucky in love to begin with, and to see the sheer joy and affection written all over both of their faces as they explained the soul bond was like a stake through the heart.

It may have been a trick of the light, but he thought he could feel them watching him occasionally, just staring as he taught Iris how to heat up things in the microwave or when he, embarrassingly, showed them his conspiracy blog. They’d done that a lot when the three of them had first met – staring until Barry began to squirm uncomfortably. Maybe it was because they’d never met a human before or something that was part of their culture. Neither of them seemed to stare at each other the way they looked at him, after all.

He couldn’t help but feel self-conscious every time they smiled at one another, though, hyper-aware of every brush against his skin as they settled onto the couch beside him and allowed him to explain the plot of the  _Star Wars_  film. The longing to be with them, to show them both that not everyone in the universe was out to get them, was almost suffocating.

Not that he’d dare get in the way of what they had, of course. Soul bonds sounded beautiful and life-changing, and he was happy for them – really, he was. They deserved to start a new life after everything they’d been through.

None of this explained how the man knew Len and Iris, though. He’d only told Cisco and Caitlin and that had been more out of necessity to stop the four of them from attacking one another when Len had thought his friends were breaking into his apartment (which had almost given both Caitlin and Cisco heart attacks). There was no one else he’d told, and Iris and Len didn’t speak much about their home planet in the first -

His stomach churned and Barry drew back as far as he could before he could stop himself. The man – no, definitely _not_ a man now that he was up close and personal, with dark pupils that were shaped more like a cat’s, and _god_ , he hated to guess what the other had actually been eating for lunch – simply looked bemused by Barry’s dawning horror.

 

The memory of the flash of terror and hatred across his friends’ faces when he’d asked about their escape from Mef’heosar, Iris' hushed tone as she glanced over her shoulder late at night, as if she were afraid of being overheard made Barry feel inexplicably sick.

“So they _did_ speak of me. How kind.”

“You’re Vandal Savage,” he muttered. Every warning about the alien came flooding back as he recalled Len’s grim expression and Iris’ grief when she talked about their escape to Earth. “You’re – fuck, you’re the one after – ”

“Yes, that would be me,” Savage sneered. “It seems you do have a brain in there somewhere. Which brings me to our concerns at hand, Bartholomew Allen. Where can I find your dear new friends?”

He couldn’t sense their whereabouts, could he? Barry suddenly regretted telling Cisco to hold off on testing the _mef’heosarian_ ship until tomorrow – Len and Iris could’ve been out of the solar system by now instead of still trapped on Earth in his apartment.

“I’m not telling you anything,” he said with more confidence than he felt. “I won’t let you hurt them anymore.”

“Whatever those _mef’heosarians_ have promised you, I guarantee their means are worthless. Their planet’s currency means nothing within the galaxy’s reaches.”

“Because you destroyed it?” Barry snapped back, his fear diminishing as anger took its place steadily. “Yeah, they told me all about how you killed their families, their friends, everyone they knew. I’m not helping them for money. It’s just the right thing to do.”

Savage laughed, the sound harsh as it rang out through the warehouse. “Oh? Very touching of you to offer yourself to their service. However, if you don’t want to talk, there are other ways of getting information out of you.”

Barry didn’t like the sound of that. The glowing object on the table flared once more, brighter than before, and Barry bit his tongue to keep from groaning as his head ached. He thought he heard something soft nearby, close to a whisper, but there was no one else in the warehouse.

Also, was it just him or was it getting uncomfortably hot in here?

“I’m not going to sell them out,” he repeated. “Especially not to a genocidal maniac.”

Savage cocked an eyebrow, leaning out of Barry’s space to study him for a moment before he clucked his tongue in disapproval. “Pity they had to choose such a weak lifeform to protect them.”

Barry opened his mouth to protest, maybe shoot off another insult if he could come up with a good one, when the blue light pulsed again, filling his vision and Barry smacked his head against the back of the chair as the pain grew searing, like a brand being pressed deep into his forehead. Even as he closed his eyes, his mouth open in a silent scream, he could feel the agonizing heat building underneath his skin. It was like his whole body, right down to his bones, was on _fire_.

He thought he could hear Savage saying something, but it was hard to hear anything over the roar in his ears and Barry struggled to breathe, tried to count his breaths through the noise. It felt like something was prodding at the corners of his mind, taking a knife to his brain and scooping out his –

There was an explosion behind him and the chair toppled, sending Barry painfully to the floor as his eardrums popped and he whimpered. Savage was definitely shouting now, inhuman screeches flooding the warehouse.

Wait, was that more than one?

He didn’t know. It was impossible to think straight even as the pain began to subside, like cool hands were caressing his face and murmuring that everything was going to be alright. He could feel tears slipping down his face, not daring to open his eyes as he hunched over in the chair.

_Barry._

In and out. Breathe in and out. That was the key.

_Barry, how are you feeling?_

Savage had created one hell of a torture device, that was certain. It almost sounded like Iris –

_Barry, it’s me. I’m going to release you now._

Barry’s eyes flew open and he nearly shut them again both due to the stab of pain and the shock of seeing Iris’ three eyes staring back at him, worry reflected in their lilac depths.

He tried to speak, to ask _how_ and _why_ , but his throat was hoarse – perhaps his screams hadn’t been so silent after all – and all that came out was a croak. Iris smiled with fanged teeth, a sight that probably was meant to be reassuring.

_It will be alright. I’m sorry we didn’t come sooner._

Iris’ slithering limbs tugged at his bound wrists, then at the rope with renewed strength. Barry found himself sliding off the chair as the ropes on his wrists snapped, finding himself wrapped in Iris’ arms as she shifted back into her human form. He wanted to warn her that her clothes were tattered thanks to her transformation (and he blamed his dazed state as the reason why he didn’t avert his eyes) but he figured it was best to stay quiet.

How was she even speaking? Her mouth hadn’t moved, had it?

Yet he swore he heard her laugh, the sound somehow assuaging his nerves as she lifted him easily. _Len and I will explain everything. Your friend – the one with the long hair – was very helpful in tracking you here. He mentioned that we could use the energy crystal here as well, to fuel our ship._

Energy - ?

Oh. That must’ve been the pulsing light.

But that didn’t explain what Iris meant when she said _we_ -

Barry glanced away from Iris and immediately wished he hadn’t. Len – who had shifted into his true form – was battling Savage – also in his true form, with scales and fangs and massive tails to boot – which explained the screeching he’d heard earlier. Both aliens were hurt, an oozing black substance slipping from their wounds, but Savage seemed to be winning. One of Len’s arms was bent at a terrible angle and his ankle was causing him trouble, forcing him to go defensive instead of attacking outright.

A spark of concern and fear ran through him, coupled with a resounding wave of strained tranquility.

Which he was pretty sure didn’t come from him.

Barry turned back to Iris and her smile turned anxious, as if she could sense what he was thinking.

And if Barry's hunch was correct, she probably _could_.

 _I promise we will explain everything_ , she told him again, likely to placate him in case he panicked. Len let out a piercing cry and her expression faltered, but Iris turned and started to run through the wall they had blasted their way through. Barry struggled to sit up and protest because _Len_ was back there, he was going to get himself _killed_ , but a flood of nausea overwhelmed him and he flopped back into her arms.

The last thing he remembered was twin soothing hands, combing through his mind with gentle fingers and soft assurances that they’d take care of everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream with me on my DCTV Tumblr @areyouscarletcold. Comments are always appreciated, and have a great day!


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